While Keselowski won the title, it was somewhat bittersweet. It was the last race for Dodge, which announced in March that it was leaving NASCAR after this season.

But that didn’t put a damper on a championship by a driver who engaged younger fans and displayed a fresh, colorful personality.

“Pretty damn awesome,” Keselowski said of winning the championship.

2. Earnhardt Jr. returns from concussion

Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered a concussion during a wreck Aug. 29 during testing at Kansas Speedway. About six weeks later, he suffered another concussion in a wreck at Talladega and had to miss two races.

While NASCAR praised Earnhardt for admitting he was injured after the second concussion, many drivers admitted they would have had a hard time doing so, bringing NASCAR’s policy on concussions into question.

Earnhardt later said he regretted not sitting out after the first concussion.

The injuries hampered an otherwise successful season for Earnhardt, who won a race for the first time in four years and made the Chase for the second straight season.

3. Kenseth to Gibbs

Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, announced in June that he would leave the only team he has really ever known in Cup.

In September, Kenseth announced he would join Joe Gibbs Racing after the season, replacing Joey Logano in the No. 20 car.

Kenseth won 24 races in 471 starts at Roush Fenway — including the 2012 Daytona 500 and two races during the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup — and finished the season seventh in the standings.

4. Patrick struggles in first full NASCAR season

Danica Patrick had hoped to finish in the top five in the Nationwide Series standings. She barely snuck into the top 10 in her first full season of stock-car racing.

One of the world’s most famous athletes, Patrick had competed in 25 NASCAR races on a part-time basis in 2010 and 2011. She then opted to move from IndyCar to NASCAR, where she ran a full Nationwide slate for JR Motorsports and 10 Sprint Cup races for Stewart-Haas Racing in preparation for a full Cup schedule at SHR in 2013. Patrick struggled from the outset and never found a rhythm in the Nationwide car, where she had just one top-10 finish in the first 22 races.

Meanwhile, she looked awful in her initial Cup outings. In her first nine races, her best finish was 24th until she finished 17th at Phoenix.

She also had her share of controversy, including an embarrassing incident where she wrecked herself while trying to retaliate against Landon Cassill.

“There has been a lot that I have learned for sure and I have a lot left to learn,” Patrick said.

5. MWR makes big strides

Clint Bowyer admits he had no clue whether he would be able to perform at the same level at Michael Waltrip Racing that he did at Richard Childress Racing.

He didn’t perform at the same level. He performed at a higher level. Bowyer won three races and, along with teammate Martin Truex Jr., made the Chase for an organization that had just two wins and no Cup appearances in its first five seasons.

Bowyer also raised the ire of Jeff Gordon because of several on-track incidents. It came to a head when they were jockeying for position in the next-to-last race at Phoenix, where Bowyer got into Gordon. Gordon, in retaliation, sent Bowyer hard into the wall, and a melee erupted between their two crews.

Gordon was fined $100,000 and docked 25 points for the incident, which ruined Bowyer’s championship hopes.

6. Suspensions: Allmendinger, Kurt Busch

AJ Allmendinger wasn’t at the prerace drivers meeting in July at Daytona and word spread quickly — he wasn’t going to race that night.

NASCAR eventually announced that Allmendinger had failed a NASCAR drug test June 29 at Kentucky Speedway. Allmendinger tested positive for amphetamine, which he said was the result of a pill he believes was Adderall. NASCAR never corroborated that story.

Allmendinger, who made the Adderall admission a few weeks after his suspension, was reinstated 12 weeks after the test and eight weeks after he had started NASCAR’s recovery program. Allmendinger was fired by Penske Racing but was able to drive two races for Phoenix Racing at the end of the season. As of late December, he did not have a NASCAR ride for 2013.

Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, was trying to resurrect his career after parting ways with Penske (opening the door for Allmendinger’s hiring) following the 2011 season.

He landed at Phoenix Racing, where he had some bright moments but landed in more trouble. He was placed on probation in May for driving through Ryan Newman’s pit stall at Darlington and suspended for a race in June for berating a Sporting News reporter during an interview at Dover.

7. Year of struggles: Edwards, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Harvick

Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart had an epic battle for the championship in 2011 with Stewart winning the title on a tiebreaker.

The 2012 season wasn’t as fulfilling. Stewart made the Chase but finished a disappointing ninth with new crew chief Steve Addington. Edwards had a change in crew chief as well amid struggles that eventually kept him out of the Chase and victory lane.

Joining Edwards outside the Chase was Kyle Busch, who won just one race (Richmond in May) but couldn’t overcome three engine failures and then a crash on an oil-slicked track at Watkins Glen.

Kevin Harvick was the only Richard Childress Racing driver to make the Chase but after back-to-back third-place finishes in 2010-11, he finished eighth in the standings. Harvick is expected to move from RCR to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. In one of the more ironic moments of 2012, two days after that news broke, Harvick recorded the only RCR Cup victory of the season with the win at Phoenix.

8. Development of new Cup car

NASCAR and the manufacturers spent most of 2012 unveiling the new 2013 body styles as the cars will feature more distinguishable characteristics to correspond with their passenger cars.

The Ford Fusion, Chevrolet SS and Toyota Camry will be much more recognizable. But there’s more than just a change on the surface.

NASCAR has changed the center of gravity on the cars by reducing the car weight by 160 pounds and by allowing for carbon fiber hoods and decklids. It also has changed rules as far as rear tire camber and eliminated the rear sway bar, forcing teams to abandon many of the techniques used to get the cars through the turns.

NASCAR hopes this makes for a more racy car, one where the leader doesn’t just check out and is hard to pass, as was too often the case in 2012.

9. Primetime Daytona 500

Yes, Matt Kenseth won. But that’s not what people talked about when they talked about the 54th annual Daytona 500.

The race was postponed because of rain for the first time in history.

Rescheduled for Monday morning, it was evident that rains would force another delay, so NASCAR opted for a Monday night running of the event. The result was an electric night. And then a jet dryer blew up. Yes, a jet dryer. Juan Pablo Montoya, under caution, broke a trailer arm on his car and slid into the jet dryer, which burst into flames. While no one was hurt, the race was delayed by two more hours.

When Kenseth finally took the checkered flag, it was Tuesday morning — more than 36 hours after the scheduled start of the race.

And the story of the Daytona 500 lasted for several weeks as Hendrick Motorsports appealed a penalty for illegal C-posts on Jimmie Johnson’s car. In a rare move, the penalties — a suspension for crew chief Chad Knaus and 25 points for Johnson — were eventually rescinded.

10. New TV deal with Fox

While viewership slipped by 10 percent and attendance revenues declined at a slightly lower rate, NASCAR still is loved by the television networks.

Fox signed a new deal to carry the first 13 races from 2015-2022. It also increased its payout from $220 million a year to an average of $300 million a year for the eight-year deal.

NASCAR still must negotiate deals for the remaining 23 races, which currently are televised by TNT and ESPN/ABC.